I’m a huge fan of cheesy 1950s monster movies.The image above sends me way back to the Saturday morning Creature Features that I loved as a kid. Check out the trailer for this fine piece of cinema: I love how pretty much the entire movie is encapsulated in less than two minutes. In truth, the praying [...]

We have a very old maple in our yard. Its large branches have held many swings and rope ladders over the years. The leaves have provided shade on the south side of the house and years of leaf mulch for the gardens. But its days unfortunately are numbered. The great trunk is marred with deep [...]

I got a new $10 gadget from the hardware store, all because I undercooked a chicken pot pie. My husband (jack-of-all-trades and licensed electrician) confirmed that the oven wasn’t reaching the right temperatures after I complained for weeks about baking calamities and roasts that wouldn’t brown without the broiler.

Count down to Father’s Day. One week to go. How about a different way to spend the day with your Dad this year? Choose a design, gather and/or purchase all the supplies, and work on a building project together. Start on Father’s Day and then make plans to get together again to finish it up. [...]

Killing bugs without killing your plants is a tricky affair. When you spray with over-the-counter chemicals, you might get rid of the bugs, but you’re still adding unnatural (and sometimes low-level toxic) elements into your garden’s chemistry. However, non-toxic, natural bug killers that will minimize your plant’s suffering do exist.

Even the thought of this stuff makes me itch. And how to control it is no easy task. Poison ivy clings to surfaces with hair-like rootlets growing out of the stem. It may be low-growing, climbing, or take on a bush form. It climbs toward the sun but thrives in shade as well. It is [...]

The benefits of having trees around us has been proven time and again. The National Arbor Day Foundation tells us their shade cools us in summer, saving 50% on air conditioning costs. In winter, they provide a windbreak which can reduce heating bills by as much as 30%. But often, trees aren’t the first thing to come [...]

Summer will soon be upon us, my friends. And my A/C will be cranking as hard as possible to keep my house at a nice, chilly 80 degrees. Yeah—80 degrees. It’s damned hot here in Florida, and it makes me cranky. Last season, I shared with you how much money you could save with a Black & Decker AutoSwitch. [...]

I have some health issues, and I have absolutely no problem talking about any of them. Ask away and I’ll answer. But one answer you won’t get from me (at least yet) is that I suffer from hypertension. And that makes me happy because I LOVE salt.